A Potions Project
by yellow 14
Summary: Regulus Black has a potions project with a girl who inspires feelings in him he does not fully understand. Written for The Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition Round 5


Disclaimer: You know the rules by now.

AN: Written for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition Round 5. My prompts for this round are _plethora 'Flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.'_ And _ridiculous_ and all prompts will be in italics.

There are some things a Black is never supposed to show.

For example, a Black is supposed to be above the idea of considering muggles and mudbloods as anything other than inferiors.

Or consorting with werewolves and other such inferior beings beyond absolute necessity.

And definitely above such petty details such as physical attractiveness when it comes to romantic and physical attraction. Indeed a whole _plethora_ of attributes would rank higher than physical attractiveness, like blood purity, wealth, lineage and a whole host of various attributes.

So the pretty young redhead witch who was his potions partner was almost certainly not the girl he should be developing feelings for. She was, after all, a girl he knew close to nothing about beyond her house (Ravenclaw and proud) her beautiful red hair (he wanted to run his hands through it) and her blood purity (Her family name was an old pure blood line.) Oh and she was very good at potions.

"Pass the gurdyroots over please Reg," she asked and Regulus almost smiled at the thought of mother's reaction to hearing his name so shortened. Then again, it was hard to imagine his parents ever having the ability to give one another cute nicknames, or abbreviations. Wordlessly he handed over the gurdyroots and she added them to the potion.

"Now stir three time anticlockwise and three times clockwise and repeat until the potion turn light blue. I'll keep the cauldron at a steady temperature," she said, poking the bottom of the cauldron with her wand. "If we get this wrong, it's likely to blow up in our faces."

Regulus said nothing and stirred his silver spoon as she had instructed. He was fairly good at potions, but his partner was nothing short of exceptional he had observed. (And he had spent far too much time observing in his opinion! A Black should be above such…petty things as sneaking looks at the pretty girl who had caught his eye.)

Sirius would of course known precisely what to do. He would no doubt not care about the importance of the family name that their parents had drilled into them since birth. No doubt he would have talked to the girl, charmed her, made her laugh or at least notice him beyond a potions partner.

Actually, if he was honest, he wished he could just ask Sirius for advise, but that idea was simply _ridiculous_. Sirius and Regulus did not, under any circumstances, to let his big brother know anything about this. It would be just too embarrassing.

"What the hell do you think you're doing Reg?" the girl asked sharply, cutting through his musings and Regulus looked down sharply to see their potion turning a deep shade of lilac. Swearing briefly, he sharply stopped stirring and whipped his spoon out.

"Well it's not completely unsalvageable," she said as she examined the potion. Grabbing some pixie dust from her desk, she added several sprinkles to the still bubbling mixture. "We're going to need a little more pixie dust than usual to compensate for the extra heat, but that shouldn't be a problem," she chuckled. "I've made worst mistakes flying."

"Flying isn't hard," Regulus blurted out and his partner laughed.

"Nothing to it really. _Flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss_ really. More or less anyway."

"I could teach you, maybe help you improve," Regulus found himself saying before he could stop himself, before blushing slightly. Damnit, a Black NEVER shows their feelings, especially in public. A Black is always in control. A Black is always unreadable. A Black should be the superior in any situation or at least an equal.

Somehow Regulus didn't think that blushing would be seen as any of those things his mother and father drilled into him. He HAD to take back control of the situation.

"It would be an excellent repayment for all the help you've given me with Professor Slughorn's joint potions project," he continued and he felt his insides turn to lead. Now he sounded like a Ministry bureaucrat on his day off. He was sure Sirius would never have done something so stupid, no he would have gotten this dead right.

"Thanks Reg, I'd like that," she said with a smile that made his heart suddenly beat faster. Her smile was…beautiful. It lit up her face like a lumos spell and made him feel…light as well. He was sure Sirius would find a joke in there somewhere, but Regulus couldn't see it for the life of him.

With a wave of her wand, the fire beneath the cauldron vanished and the potion simmered in the remaining heat. Reaching down with a potions vial, she removed a sample of the potion and sealed it in.

"Well I think that ought to be good enough to pass," she said, still smiling. "It's not as good as I'd like, but at least we've got the potion pretty close to right."

Regulus wanted to smile back, but he had already shown too much of his emotions already and it would not do to show any further lapses in his façade. He was not some young child, smiling at some pretty bauble, he was a third year student at Hogwarts and a Black and he should know better. It was bad enough that he was experiencing…strange feelings about this girl. Instead he simply watched as she took the completed potion up to Professor Slughorn's desk and returned to their cauldron.

"Are you free to try teaching me this evening after dinner?" she asked and Regulus nodded.

"Yes, of course. The Quidditch pitch should be free for some practise," Regulus said trying to avoid sounding excited. Unfortunately his voice suddenly broke halfway through and he ended his sentence with something close to a squeak. Regulus felt his face turn red and the girl smiled at him.

"Thanks. See you later Reg," she replied cheerfully and she kissed him on the cheek before leaving.

Regulus stood still in shock for what felt like an eternity, his hand on his cheek where she had kissed him. He couldn't believe it! A fellow Black would never show such an intimate gesture with a boy she barely knew. It was…unrefined.

But he still left the Potions class beaming like an idiot. Alice Dubois had actually kissed him!


End file.
